


say anything

by reservethesun (cypheraly)



Category: My Engineer (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Developing Relationship, Dissociation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Toxic Relationship, Toxic friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24193063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cypheraly/pseuds/reservethesun
Summary: when ram has a bit of a breakdown on campus, king comes to help and get him away from the situation before giving duen a piece of his mind.
Relationships: Bohn/Duen (My Engineer), King/Ram (My Engineer)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 351





	say anything

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooooooo. This fic was brought out from a request made by someone I really enjoy talking to on tumblr! It was requested to have a fic where King comforts Ram after he panics about stuff. It turned into this mess that maybe is more my frustrations with certain things coming through. So it might be a lot OOC but eh. I hope you enjoy anyway.

“Hey, King,” Boss said as he came up to where King was walking slowly while playing a game on his phone. He was done with classes for the day and was intending to walk to the courtyard where he usually met up with his friends so that he could get some studying done. He was about half-way there when Boss found him, and he hummed in acknowledgement to the greeting while stopping so that he was standing next to Boss. “So, your boyfriend-”

“Boyfriend?” questioned King as he looked up from his phone. His brow furrowed at the middle as he studied Boss, trying to figure out who Boss was referring to. He didn’t have a boyfriend. From what he understood, Boss was the one with the boyfriend. Well, and Bohn but, well, King had thoughts about that whole situation.

“Yeah. The one with the face.” Boss nodded and pinched his face up in a look that was somehow supposed to tell King who he was talking about. Boss sighed and relaxed his features when he watched King’s face just fold up in confusion. “He’s always surrounded by those dumb friends of his?” King sighed and just looked at Boss as though he was dumb while putting his cell phone into his pocket - that description could have been anyone that he knew, honestly. “With the-”

“Ai’King,” Tee interrupted as he came walking up to the two of them, making them turn to look at him. “Your junior with the tattoos-”

“Yes, him!” Boss pointed dramatically at Tee as he more accurately described the person that he had been attempting to.

“Boss, hush.”

“Ram? What about him?” King asked as he reached out to grab Tee’s bicep, making his friend focus on him instead of Boss.

“He’s not looking so good right now.” Tee gestured vaguely over the shoulder opposite the arm that King was still holding on to. “Like he might be sick or something.”

“Where is he?” King barely waited for Tee to tell him where on campus Ram was before he rushed off in the direction. He didn’t even realize that he’d broken into a run until he was slowing to a stop when he was within sight of where Ram was.

Ram was sitting at a table with all of his friends. They were talking and being loud, speaking over one another and laughing. They were talking about homework or weekend plans. They were all wrapped up in the conversations and not a single one of them seemed to spare Ram much of a glance as he sat there quietly. That in itself wasn’t a new thing. What King noticed right away, though, was the fact that Ram looked pale and shaky - it reminded King of the time he’d nearly hyperventilated while waiting for the news on whether or not he got into the university. He was clearly unfocused on the people around him and seemed as though he was seeing straight through the table his eyes were glued to. Every so often, he would flinch slightly from a rise in tone from one of his friends. King set his jaw and went over to the table. He ignored the greetings from Ram’s friends when they noticed him.

Instead of responding, he grabbed Ram’s bag from off the top of the table and then grabbed a hold of Ram’s wrist, pulling him to stand up and come with him. Ram easily stood up - the lack of fighting made King instantly worry even more - and he stumbled over his feet as he was pulled away from the table. King barely managed to keep him from falling over entirely, and led Ram away from the loud calls from his friends asking where they were going.

King didn’t stop walking until they were all the way off campus at a quiet, almost secluded location. There were students milling about, walking on a nearby path to go to this class or that club meeting. But it was quiet, and that was what King was mostly focused on as he directed Ram to sit down on the bench he had found. King stood in front of Ram, and spoke quietly to him. He coached Ram through breathing and trying to focus on something else other than whatever it was that was obviously upsetting him. King looked over to the side when he heard some students approaching on the path that passed behind him and he grabbed the front of his workshop shirt to hold it out and shield Ram’s face from them as they kept walking. 

“Hey, it’s okay, cool boy,” King insisted. “Just take a moment and breathe for me, will you?” He kept his voice quiet, not wanting to have to see Ram flinching because of him like he’d been doing with his other friends back at the table. Not that any of them seemed to notice that Ram hadn’t just been sitting there quietly as he usually seemed to be. “What’s going on? Wait, no. You don’t have to tell me. But you can. I told you that you can talk to me.”

Ram nodded his head a couple of times at the last statement. He still did not say anything, however. He just took a few deep, shaky breaths and closed his eyes. King reached out with his hand not holding onto his shirt to place it on Ram’s shoulder with a gentle squeeze. King almost expected Ram to pull away at the action, but instead he just continued to sit there. His breathing slowly became more regular and he seemed to stop shaking as much while King talked quietly to him - it was all mindless chatter, small talk about his plants and different facts about them. He only stopped talking when he felt Ram place a hand on his wrist. It made him let go of his shirt and take a step back. “Better?” he asked. Ram nodded again. “Want to talk about it?”

Ram shook his head, and King nodded in understanding - but a few seconds later, Ram was telling him anyway. Panic attacks weren’t new to him, and he wasn’t entirely sure what had set it off. All he knew was that everything had just gotten to be too loud and too much for him to handle. Everything with his dad, stress from classes, Duen’s continued complaints about the situation with Bohn, too much noise from the cafeteria, being surrounded by people… It was all just too much. He wasn’t even able to pinpoint exactly what had happened specifically to cause him to just… shut down. King nodded in understanding, though he couldn’t really relate to all of it. Some of it was universal stressors, of course. Deun dumping his relationship drama (that was at least 50% his own creation), and everything going on with Ram’s dad on top of classes would be enough to make anyone kind of lose it.

When he was done talking, Ram took a long, shaky breath and looked up at King. “Sorry,” he said quietly.

“Why are you apologizing?” replied King. “I told you to talk to me. It’s what I’m here for.” Ram nodded again and King smiled softly at that. “Do you ever talk to any of your friends about any of it?” Ram didn’t look directly at King, staring off to the side in silence, instead. King took that to mean ‘no’. King tried not to let himself get too upset at that. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. Maybe Ram wasn’t comfortable enough for it - but he couldn’t help but worry that maybe none of his friends gave him the opportunity or made him feel as though he could say anything to them.

“They’re dealing with their own stuff.” Ram’s quiet comment almost made King jump when he realized that Ram was speaking - somehow, he’d managed to read King’s thoughts. His surprise must have been evident on his face because Ram gave a tired chuckle. “You talked out loud.”

“Oh.” King hadn’t even realized that he’d said anything aloud. He almost felt guilty, but Ram didn’t seem upset at his condemning thoughts about the others. So, King didn’t let himself feel that for too long. It didn’t really change his feelings, either, because what sort of friends were they that the lot of them were so self involved they didn’t realize when something was clearly bothering Ram? Especially Duen, Ram’s supposed best friend. “How long were you sitting there like that?” Ram shrugged his shoulders in response and it made King feel a surge of anger all over again. King forced himself to take a deep breath and he nodded his head once. Then, he got into the checkered bag he brought everywhere with him and he pulled out his keys to hand to Ram. “Here.” Ram just looked up at him with raised brows before watching as King grabbed his hand and placed the keys into them. “Go back to mine. Take a nap or something. Just… go there and enjoy the quiet for a while.” Ram looked for a moment like he was going to decline, so King grabbed Ram’s bag and held it up so that Ram could take it from him. “Nuh-uh. No arguing. I’ll bring you something to eat later. For now, just go. And, cool boy, you’re always welcome to escape everything at mine, you know? I didn’t say that just for kicks.” Ram again seemed like he was going to argue, so King took a step back. “Not listening. Go on.”

Ram hesitated for a few seconds longer but then he stood up with a sigh. He was too tired to really argue with King, even if he wanted to. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the offer, he just didn’t want to be a burden and he had taken advantage of King’s kindness far too often. He knew that King would tell him that wasn’t a problem. So, he would just think of some way to make it up to him. Ram grabbed his bag to take it from King, who smiled at him with a nod of his head. Ram hesitated, trying to think of something to say, anything else. He couldn’t find the words he wanted, though, and he just turned to leave.

King closed his eyes and took a deep breath once Ram was walking away, trying to will himself to calm down, to not let that anger he was feeling about the entire situation make him do something dumb. By the time he opened his eyes again, Ram was not in sight anymore. It was then that King found himself heading back in the direction that he had come from. Back at the cafeteria, Ram’s friends had been joined by Bohn, Boss, and Tee. Bohn was sitting next to Duen and seemed to be attempting to flirt with him but Duen was just glaring off to the side while Boss and Tee seemed to be trying to assist Bohn.

It was easy to tell that Bohn was struggling to keep the smile on his face but he kept trying anyway. King stalked over to the table and once again ignored the greeting the younger students at the table gave him when they noticed him. “What the hell kind of friends are you?” he asked, making all of them look at him in shock. Bohn started to ask him what was wrong, but King did not really pay him any mind. Instead, he just pointed at Deun. “Especially you. You’re supposed to be his best friend. How in the hell could you just  _ sit there _ ?”

“Wh-what?” Duen asked as he looked around with a small, nervous laugh. “P’K-”

“How could you be so wrapped up in your own,  _ pointless _ bullshit that you didn’t even realize your best friend was having a panic attack right next to you? My friends who don’t even know his name had to come and find me and tell me that something was wrong - people who don’t really know him, and you-” King broke off and took a deep breath through his nose. “Not only are you an awful boyfriend-” King ignored both Bohn and Duen’s protest at the statement. They could disagree all they wanted. It wouldn’t change King’s opinion. He hadn’t been too thrilled when he had heard about Duen letting his friends treat Bohn like they were, but he’d stayed quiet. He didn’t like when he heard Bohn talk about how Duen was constantly pushing him away and getting mad for every little thing. He especially didn’t like when Bohn would lament about his jealousy and what his friend said made it sound like Duen had purposely tried to make Bohn jealous at least once and then blamed him when he did. Add all that to the fact that Duen seemed completely unaware of the fact that something was seriously bothering Ram. “- but you’re a worse friend. I shouldn’t have to come here and tell you that there’s something seriously bothering your friend. And, no, I won’t tell you what it is. Have you even tried to talk to him?”

“Ram doesn’t talk about th-”

“I didn’t ask if he’s told you. I asked if you tried to talk to him. Those are two very different things.” King scoffed when Duen didn’t give him an answer. That alone was an answer enough. “Thought so.” He shook his head with a scowl on his face, sparing a glance at the others at the table, who looked as though fear was the only thing keeping them from responding. Then he focused back on Duen when he noticed that Duen was gathering his things. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go to his place and talk to him,” Duen replied, as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“You can go to his place, but he’s not there.” King wasn’t entirely sure if Ram had actually gone to his place, but he highly doubted that Ram would have taken his keys if he planned on not going there. “Try to make up for missing the obvious tomorrow. And stop messing around with Bohn’s feelings - if you’re going to be his boyfriend, be his boyfriend. If you’re uncomfortable with something, tell him. Don’t be an asshole about it.” King didn’t wait for any of them to say anything else to him before he turned around and walked off in a huff. He had a lot more than that to say but he didn’t want to completely overstep. He already felt like he was toeing the line a bit, and wouldn’t be surprised if Ram got annoyed with him for having said anything to his friends at all. He hadn’t been able to stop himself, though. 

And he honestly didn’t regret anything.

King spent more time on campus, calming himself down and taking a deep breath. He studied for only a few minutes before realizing that he couldn’t focus. So he gathered his things and left. He stopped to get something to eat and a couple of drinks on his way to his apartment only to laugh at himself once he was walking down the hallway because he had given Ram the key to his apartment - which meant he was going to have to knock to be let into his own place. Ram didn’t answer right away, but it didn’t take too long for the door to be hesitantly opened. “It’s just me, cool boy,” King said with a laugh, pushing his way into the apartment once he was sure that Ram wasn’t in the way. He held up the bag of take away that he’d gotten. “Thought you might be hungry.”

Ram shook his head and started walking back to the couch, where he’d been sitting since he’d gotten there. King noted there was a glass of water sitting out that he hadn’t left, himself, and felt glad that Ram had at least had some water. “That’s cool. It’ll reheat later,” said King before he headed to the kitchen to put the food up in the fridge. Then, King made his way back to the living room while running a hand through his hair. “Feeling any better?” King shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his phone. He didn’t look up at King as he typed out a message, but once he finished he set his phone aside. King’s phone chimed shortly after and he pulled it out of his pocket to read the message. He smiled almost sheepishly at Ram after he read the question of how he had yelled at Deun. “I might have done that. Just a little.” Ram’s expression in response was one that was obviously not very amused, but at the same time was just tired. “I’d apologize but I don’t want to lie. It shouldn’t have taken my friends coming to get me for someone to realize that something was bothering you.”

Ram didn’t say anything, and King stood there awkwardly for several seconds until Ram reached up to grab his forearm and directed him to sit down on the couch next to him. King released a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. Ram wasn’t too upset with him or that wouldn’t have happened. “Did you get any rest?” he asked as he got comfortable in his spot. Ram was still sitting up straight and he shook his head in response. It made King roll his eyes and he grabbed the back of Ram’s shirt. He tugged on it until Ram was relaxed back in his spot. “Try to get some rest. Then here in an hour or two try to eat. And drink more water.” Ram nodded his head and King smiled. He sank down into his spot more and leaned over to rest his head against Ram’s shoulder with his eyes closed. “Shush and just let me. You just rest.” King smiled again when he felt what seemed to be a pat to the top of his head. He didn’t open his eyes to see, but Ram didn’t pull away or verbally protest so King figured it was fine. He missed the way that Ram had a small smile on his face as well as he sat there silently and just continued to take in the seeming quiet of King’s apartment, feeling much better than he had before King had shown up and dragged him away from the noise.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me [on tumblr](https://reservethesun.tumblr.com)!


End file.
